Helena Suárez Val (Student Researcher)
Helena Suárez Val
Research Interests: feminist activism, data visualisation, cartography, feminicide
Supervisors: Professor Noortje MarresLink opens in a new window and Dr Maria Puig de la BellacasaLink opens in a new window
Research Topic
Project working title: Feminicide and digital activism: building a feminist community of practice
Since 2015, as part of my feminist activism, I have been recording cases of feminicide (gender-related violent deaths of women) in Uruguay, generating a database of cases and visualising the resulting data using Google Maps (Feminicidio UruguayLink opens in a new window). This work can be located as part of a series of digital maps and data visualisations of feminicide created by feminist activists that have emerged across Latin America and in other parts of the world in recent years. My PhD project is an extension of and an investigation into this form of activist-research. The aim is to research the forms, methodologies, practices and effects of data practices in feminist activism and gender advocacy relating to feminicide; to situate this work in a wider field of data for advocacy; and to specify what is distinctive about feminist approaches to data.
Background
I hold MAs in Gender, Media and Culture from Goldsmiths, University of London and in Social Science Research from Warwick. I have an extensive career in web development and digital communications for human rights. I was co-organiser of the first three editions of Jornadas de Debate Feminista, an annual conference gathering academics and activists in the feminist movement from Uruguay and other countries in Latin America. I have worked with Amnesty International, the Global Call to Action against Poverty and Cotidiano Mujer. Occasionally, I have produced performance works by socially-engaged artists Rajni Shah (UK) and Hekatherina C. Delgado (Uruguay). I am currently collaborating with Catherine D'Ignazio (Data + Feminism Lab @ MIT) and Silvana Fumega (ILDA) on an action-research project called Data Against FeminicideLink opens in a new window.
You can hear me (in Spanish) commenting the news from a feminist perspective as co-conductor of the podcast #InformativoFeminista de Radio Nunca en DomingoLink opens in a new window, which is broadcast online and on community radios in more than six countries worldwide.
Publications
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Suárez Val, Helena. 2021. “Affect Amplifiers: Feminist Activists and Digital Cartographies of Feminicide.” In Networked Feminisms: Activist Assemblies and Digital Practices, edited by Shana MacDonald, Brianna I. Wiens, Michelle MacArthur, and Milena Radzikowska. Lexington Books. https://rowman.com/ISBN/9781793613790/Networked-Feminisms-Activist-Assemblies-and-Digital-Practices.
- Suárez Val, Helena. 2021. ‘Marcos de Datos de Feminicidio. Reconstrucción ontológica y análisis crítico de dos datasets de asesinatos de mujeres por razones de género’. Informatio. Revista del Instituto de Información de la Facultad de Información y Comunicación 26 (1): 313–46. https://doi.org/10.35643/Info.26.1.15Link opens in a new window.
- Suárez Val, Helena. 2021. ‘Datos discordantes. Información pública sobre femicidio en Uruguay’. Mundos Plurales - Revista Latinoamericana de Políticas y Acción Pública 7 (1): 53–78. https://doi.org/10.17141/mundosplurales.1.2021.3937Link opens in a new window.
- Suárez Val, Helena. 2018. ‘Vibrant Maps’. INMATERIAL. Diseño, Arte y Sociedad 3 (5). http://www.inmaterialdesign.com/index.php/mag/article/view/55Link opens in a new window.
See my profile ResearchGateLink opens in a new window or Academia.eduLink opens in a new window for other work.
Contact
Centre for Interdisciplinary Methodologies
University of Warwick CV4 7AL
Email: Helena dot Suarez-Val at warwick dot ac dot uk
Twitter: @ladelentes